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May 2020Vol. 21, No. 4May Is National Foster Care Month

This year's National Foster Care Month (NFCM) theme, "Foster Care as a Support to Families, Not a Substitute for Parents," highlights the importance of strengthening families and supporting parents to expedite reunification. The NFCM 2020 website offers an array of resources and tools aimed at addressing the unique needs of children in foster care; improving placement stability; and strengthening relationships between birth families, children and youth in foster care, and child welfare agencies.

The resources and tools featured on the website include the following:  

  • A Resources page that provides information to help professionals develop strategies for partnering with communities, families, courts, and related professionals. This page also includes information on how to encourage collaborative relationships between foster parents and birth parents; how to integrate parent and youth voice into targeted services; and links to resources for parents, youth, foster parents, kinship caregivers, guardians, and tribes.
  • Inspiring real-life stories told from the perspectives of children, youth, and families. These stories can be used as tools to highlight the role each of us has in enhancing the lives of children and youth in foster care.
  • A Spread the Word section. This page includes tools to support outreach efforts, including graphics and sample social media and outreach messages.
  • A Community Engagement section. This page provides a listing of state foster care program managers, agencies, and websites; sample proclamations; and local and state examples of how parents are partnering with child welfare agencies.

The Children's Bureau, together with Child Welfare Information Gateway and other partner organizations, promotes May as NFCM and raises awareness about the important roles everyone can play in the lives of children and youth in care.